Red Tape
Yesterday Eliza and I spent 9 hours in pursuit of a document that I need in order to serve on the board of our new foundation. The official purpose of this document is to declare that I am not a criminal – but the real reason for requiring it seems to be to make the applicant jump through as many hoops (and pay as many fees) as possible. We started the day by going to the American embassy where I filled out an affidavit stating that I do not have a criminal record. This was notarized by the official at the embassy. Then that document had to be translated into Thai. After that we had to take the original and the translation to the legalization department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There we waited, showed the papers to a supervisor, then turned in the papers and the fee, waited, collected the receipt, waited some more and finally got the papers back, now bearing the official seal from the foreign ministry.
It seemed like a lot of running around for a paper that’s basically just a very official version of my claim not to be a criminal! But it was a good chance to spend some quality time with Eliza and she had fun being my sidekick for the day (especially when she got a big chocolate milkshake!)
-Tom